@3scoutsmom , that’s interesting. All of those kids would have gotten an auto admit to UT-Austin( unless their schools are not participating in that program, which is a possibility) I can see a couple, in this case 1, going to the beat of his own drums and doing something way different. I’m going to assume that the 5 who chose other TX schools got very good scholarships that allowed them to live at school rather than commute to UTAustin which may be local to them, their school did not participate in the class rank auto admit, or they did not want to go to UTAustin for whatever reason. I can see why a smaller school like Rice or Trinity might be a a choice. OSU? Athletic pick? Why over UT-Austin it was that even an option in this case.
The 6 private’s as well as Rice, I can see. BYU is often a first choice for people even over higher rated schools.
@3scoutsmom I think TX is its own world and kids there like to go to Austin! No one in our top 12 kids are going to Illinois. We don’t have a Val or Sal but we do know the top 2% since they are called out with a different tassel at graduation. They are all going to private universities except for one going to UCLA. Georgetown, Duke, Notre Dame, Northwestern, Chicago, Yale all represented in that group. I can’t remember all twelve.
The Valedictorian in D’s year went to Northwestern and the Salutatorian went to Harvard. The year before Val went to UCLA, Sal went to Vanderbilt. Year after Val went to Georgetown and Sal went to St. Andrew’s in Scotland (mother was from the UK). Don’t know yet about S’s class.
In the past we’ve had Vals and Sals who’ve gone to UC Berkeley, UC San Diego, University of Virginia, University of Michigan. So not all Vals and Sals go to the Ivy League…
@cptofthehouse Might have been an athletic pick. Maybe they got a scholarship. Maybe they’re originally from Oklahoma, maybe they have family there. Maybe they’re die hard Oklahoma State athletic fans? Who knows?
TX is not it’s own world. Given overall stats about this, that is more the norm. CC is a bubble and not the real world, including the high schools that CC students attend.
Yes, just musing. In my area, very few Val’s and Sals go to the state schools. NY doesn’t have a well defined flagship U, though Id say Buffalo the closest (people will disagree) Top ranked kids here go the the most selective universities and LACs as a rule.
And Vals in Texas get free tuition for freshman year… so that’s another incentive to choose it.
^^^ Very nice! Is that true for UTAustin too? Do the other state schools give money to Vals? NMFs?
@cptofthehouse the auto admit deal, as far as I know is a state thing not a individual school program that’s why all TX high schools are required to rank the top 10%, our high school is officially non-ranking but has to provide “certificates of rank” but will only list rank on the transcript if the student is in the top 10% AND the student requests it. I think there are exceptions for very small schools and privates.
I was puzzled about the OK State one too but an athletic recruit might explain it. I agree that money is one factor in going to other state schools than UT but I also think it might be programs and/or opportunities. Both my DD and DS were auto admits to UT and neither even bothered to apply. DD wanted to major in Meteorology (UT doesn’t offer that) She’s graduating with a BS in Meteorology and minors in Comp Sci and Math and has been able to continue with harp on a college level as a non major, not something she could have done at UT. DS is majoring in Comp Sci and felt UTD would give him more opportunities as an undergrad than UT. He just completed his freshman year and was able to participate in their pre-freshman summer research program, is in their CS squared honors program and is heading off to Korea this summer to participate in a CS exchange program, he also isn’t limited on the amount of CS classes he can take per semester. For some I can certainly see opportunities and personal “fit” out weighing the prestige of UT Austin.
@cptofthehouse the money for the Val’s first year of tuition comes from the state not from the school and will cover first year tuition at any TX state school including UT Austin.
Sometimes a parent or sibling attends a certain school and it has a draw within that family. And sadly sometimes a love interest.
Oklahoma State might be a family affair. And an OU or OSU family member might be hard pressed to cross the picket line and attend UT or TAMU.
Or leaving classmates and the local scene might be a powerful influence. Perhaps they are given a economic incentive to make it work.
Many TX schools give $$$ to NMF (not the state but the schools) except UT Austin, they give $0 for NMF. Texas Tech is the most generous, a true full ride including transportation and a stipend for incidentals. What surprised me about that article is not one of the students is attending TAMU!
None of the Val’s and sals in a Dallas area news article went to TAMU the year my nephews graduated either. One of the nephews did go to TAMU, the other went OOS. I believe the Val of their tiny school did go to UTAustin. What I found interesting was that he was the only one to go to UT Austin from a school where about a third went to top private schools.
@cypresspat I think I left a comment for you months ago suggesting Lehigh after reading about your son’s wishlist. You (if it was you!) said that you had Lehigh in mind but he wasn’t interested and you were going to try to sneak it in. Just curious - did he like either Lehigh or Lafayette? And your LAC sounds amazing - wish you’d name it!
I just meant that kids who grow up in Texas many times seem to like it there and aren’t interested in going to another state for college, even the high stat kids. UT is highly ranked, affordable, and appealing to the top ten percent who get in automatically. So, in that way, it’s kind of its own world. The public system takes care of the high stat kids and it seems those kids are excited to go to Austin. That is not the case in many states where the top students are not interested in going to the state flagship.
As mentioned above, there’s a prestige in going to UT Austin for the Texas kids. No such prestige happening for the state schools in the Midwest (except Michigan).
I wish it were top 10. It is top 6 % for the high school class of 2020 and expected to drop to either 4 or 5 % thereafter, sadly. Just too many kids.
@roycroftmom ah see! That’s why the top students are cool with going to UT! But that is rough since state schools are obviously supposed to serve the state and I’m sure it’s difficult for the kids who are not auto admit to get in. UT has it all for those who want a big school (acedemics, school spirit, Greek life, etc.)
Those looking for a different experience have other options in Texas. It does seem like the Texans I’ve seen post on CC send their kids to school in Texas but, obviously, that’s a small sample size.
By state law UT Austin’s freshman class must be 75% Texas residents, because the population in TX continues to grow they have to keep reducing the percent of auto admits to leave room for other Texas students. The kicker is, even if you are an auto admit UT doesn’t have admit you to your chosen major so you may want to be a comp sci or business major (two majors that are next to impossible to transfer into) and end up in liberal arts.
Interesting - the Val / Sal report just came out in our local paper. Tells where all the Vals / Sals will attend from a very large school district (8th or 9th in the country). Although some elites are state schools (not just the flagship). You can almost draw a line down the page separating public and private school results. Makes me wonder what the drivers are.
I imagine most of it is socioeconomic. There’s also a big predetermined draw to our large state schools. Kids grow up thinking “I’m going to be a Gator or 'Nole”. The kids we know that went to private HS seem to go to private colleges. I know money / financial resources has a lot to do with that but I’m wondering what role the schools themselves play. Do they know something the publics don’t? Are they pipelines to the top privates?
When S applied to schools a few years back, he basically had to teach his guidance counselor (public charter - 600 kids total) the ropes for applying to OOS and privates. Curious to know what resources the private HS guidance counselors have / use.
^meant some elite students will attend the various FL state schools, not just the flagship.